Julia Child in a 1978 publicity shot. (©Lynn Gilbert/Used with permission)
HBO Max announced Thursday it has given an eight-episode first-season for a series based on the life of world-renowned chef Julia Child, who grew up in Pasadena and attended Polytechnic School.
English actress Sarah Lancashire will portray Child while four-time Emmy winner David Hyde Pierce will portray her husband.
“Julia” is inspired by Child’s life and her 1963-73 public television series, “The French Chef.”
The series will explore an evolving time in American history, the emergence of public television as a new social institution, feminism and the women’s movement, the nature of celebrity and America’s cultural growth through Child “and her singular can-do spirit,” according to HBO Max.
Chris Keyser, a creator of the 1994-2000 Fox drama “Party of Five” will be the showrunner. It written be written by Daniel Goldfarb, whose producing credits includes the Amazon Prime Video comedy “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
A premiere date was not announced.
Child was portrayed by Meryl Streep in the 2009 film “Julie & Julia” about blogger Julie Powell’s attempt to cook every recipe in Child’s book, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in a year.
The 1911 Craftsman home in which Child grew up still stands along the former 710 freeway extension route on South Pasadena Avenue near the Huntington Hospital, but has fallen into disrepair.
